remarkable boy. he's an inspiration for so many people. >> you tricked me! >> i did not trick you. how did i trick you? >> just an incredible story youssif. you're such a great boy. thanks for watching, i'm dr. sanjay gupta. stay tuned for more news on cnn. good morning. the gloves are off. those the words the republican senator lisa murkowski who lost her primary race but now has a new plan to win reelection. she is asking the voters to write her in. also, just moments ago, we saw pope benedict holding a mass at westminster cathedral. he is on day three of a four-day

trip to the uk. he hasn't changed his busy schedule despite the arrest of six men suspected in a possible terror plot. we will take you live to london. but for right now, live from the cnn center in atlanta, georgia, this is cnn saturday morning 8:00 a.m. here in atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in fayetteville, arkansas. glad you're here. i'm t.j. holmes. let me give you a look at other stories making headlines this morning. bp plans to permanently seal its well today. you've been hearing a lot about this story, a lot about this well, a lot about this spill. but today is the day when we could finally see this thing over and done with and dead. they are pumping cement into the bottom portion of the well. this the same well that started spewing in april after the explosion aboard that rig. some 5 million barrels have gushed into the gulf. but today a big day that we could finally see this thing killed. also, secretary of state hillary clinton has phoned the sultan of oman thanking him for

his help in the rescue of sarah shourd. we're expecting to see a press conference from sarah when she returns to new york tomorrow. the press conference, at least, is tomorrow. not sure when she will land in the united states. she'll be giving details of her captivity. the family has paid $500,000 in bail for her release. clinton calls for the release, as well, for shane bauer and josh fattal. also, voting underway in afghanistan right now. the fourth national election we've seen since 2004. the taliban has pledged to deter voters by attacking the polls. there have been scattered rocket attacks and roadside bombs that have been reported. tens of thousands of police and security forces have been deployed to try to keep the violence to a minimum. well, alaska senator lisa murkowski. a loss really isn't a loss to her. she is fighting on. finding a new way to try to keep her seat. she says she will no conduct a

write-in campaign to try to keep her job after she lost the republican primary back in august. she lost it to a tea party-backed candidate. you covered the race up there in alaska. we thought it was over and done. >> you know how you're watching a scary movie sometimes and you think all the action is done and all of a sudden all the action jumps out at you. that's how you want to sum up the race. she's bringing her campaign back from the political dead. she conceded the race to this tea party-backed candidate joe miller. and now she's announcing hey, i'm going to do this write-in candidacy. she says she's heard from a lot of alaskans since she conceded. this is not making republicans happy, this is not making the tea party movement happy. she addressed that last night when she announced her decision. take a listen to it.

>> so there was actually -- part of -- we don't have that sound. part of what she said last night was that she knows that republicans are not going to be happy. she's called the tea party express that came there and poured money into the extremist group. so basically this is a big thumb in their face. >> you're talking about the tea party not happy, republicans not happy. democrats, a little happy here. >> definitely a little bit happy. the reason why she's a republican. she's going to run as a write-in candidate. joe miller has the nomination. he's a republican. there's speculation she might actually split or they might split the republican vote. they might split the republican vote and possibly hand this thing to the democrat who is running. his name is scott mcadam, the mayor of an alaskan city. so democrats are a little bit gleeful this morning about the possibility of picking up a state where they had essentially written off. >> and she sounded like last night she was recharged,

reenergized, reinvigorated in her campaign. we do have that sound we were calling for a second ago. last night announcing she's now going to do a write-in campaign. >> i will be the first one to admit to you that in the primary campaign we made some mistakes. we talked about ourselves, we talked about me a lot. but we didn't educate alaskans about the extremist views that were held by mr. miller. and when he swung, i didn't swing back. well, ladies and gentlemen, friends and supporters, the gloves are off! and i'm fighting for alaska. >> she says -- she heard from voters. she said that wanted her to do this. how is this being received on a larger scale by voters there? i heard people call this arrogant. >> when i was in alaska, i talked to a number of people. she does have a lot of supporters in alaska. her father was a governor and senator in there.

the name murkowski name is very popular. but a lot of conservatives feel like, hey, you have had your turn and you should step aside. i talked with the chairman of the tea party express last night. and she says lisa murkowski doesn't get it. she was fired by the people. and this was alaskans. she has some supporters, but there are others who say hey, you've had your day, your time, you need to step aside. >> and still, the same time, the uphill climb. it's one thing to just get a voter to go in there and punch your name. to get someone to go in there and physically write her name down. they're saying possibly lisa m. would be okay. there's a lot of rules involved in this now. >> talk about a uphill climb. only one person has ever won a senate race with a write-in candidacy and that was back in 1954, strom thurman. she's got a steep hill to climb to make this happen. she says she also said last night that she can make this happen.

i caught up with the senator the other day. but it's a very uphill climb to make this happen. can she do it? we'll be watching in november. >> there you are. chasing folks around as you often do. shannon travis, good to have you here with us. we're going to be checking in with you in a little bit on this cnn saturday morning. thank you so much. >> absolutely. sarah palin endorsed the other guy who actually won that primary, but she is headlining now the gop's biggest fundraiser. she did this last night in des moines. revved up the republican base at the reagan dinner saying we can't wait until 2012 to get our country back on track. palin didn't say anything about her plans to maybe run for president. instead she helped little-known candidates win like christine o'donnell the republican primary in delaware on tuesday. well, the iowa caucuses, of course, is always the first test of presidential candidates.

we'll get you that sound, let you hear from sarah palin in just a bit. it is day two, the conservative political gathering known as the values voter summit in washington. it highlights the gop's promise and peril heading into midterm elections. bill bennett will be taking the stage at 9:25 eastern this morning. former speaker of the house newt gingrich going to address the crowd at 9:50. and bob mcdonnell speaking at 10:15. and christine o'donnell was given a big welcome on friday. she slammed the administration saying the elites will never have the last word on liberty. she is featured as part of the who's who of rising republican stars there. and as always for your political coverage, you know where to go. cnn politics.com. all right. hurricane igor. strong winds, strong surge. still a serious storm, a big storm that is heading towards bermuda right now. supposed to hit some time tonight. our reynolds wolf is where else?

there. we'll be joining him shortly. also, the back and forth on capitol hill over tax cuts. we're going to be breaking all this down and show you exactly what it means if the tax cuts expire how much money are you going to be paying extra? it's eight minutes past the hour. down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. ♪ [ female announcer ] good friends never run out of things to talk about... and during endless shrimp at red lobster, you can keep the conversation going over endless servings of your favorite shrimp. from classics like garlic shrimp scampi and decadent shrimp pasta...

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also need to keep a close eye on tropical depression karl. karl as you see is that mess on the left side of your screen. it is weakening rapidly over the high mountains of mexico. still dangerous mudslides, flash flooding are the real concerns there now. hurricane igor on the right still churning, it's on track to bring strong wind and heavy rain to bermuda by some time this evening. we have our karen mcginnis here with us in our hurricane headquarters tracking this thing, but we also have our meteorologist reynolds wolf. he is where else? in bermuda, right in the eye of the storm, if you will. right in the target line. reynolds, you always want to be where the action is happening. and looks like the action is happening this evening. >> reporter: yes, sir, smack dab in the middle, t.j. if you were to look at bermuda on a map in comparison to the size of igor, it would be reminiscent of igor being the windshield of a speeding car and

bermuda would be a bug. bermuda's a small place made up of 138 islands. collectively if you were to put those land masses together, it would still be a third of the size of washington, d.c. this area is part of the uk, home to some 67,000 people. people who were preparing for this storm. and as it's been getting closer, we've been seeing it flex its muscles. well, we had some video we were going to show you moments ago. that is basically the first impressions we're seeing from the storm, t.j. the way bermuda is set up. it's a giant coral formation. outside this coral we have had waves up to 19 feet. they've been a little bit smaller. as the storm surge comes on as the storm approaches, they could be anywhere from 5 to 7 feet in

storm surge, but the high tide could be topping some of the walls at this particular resort. this storm is very similar in terms of the size or at least in terms of the power as the storm that struck this area back in 2003. that storm was fabian, it knocked out the airport, caused millions of dollars in cost, four lives. four people trying to cross a causeway were swept away by the storm surge. we do anticipate this storm could be a little more damaging because it is going to be bigger in scope. wind speeds about the size, but it's much bigger than fabian. and as it pulls northward today and tomorrow night is when we should get the brunt of the storm. possibly 2:00 a.m. sunday into monday. let's send it back to you, t.j. >> we appreciate you keeping an eye on things. we'll be checking in with you plenty as you keep an eye on this storm. our karen mcginnis standing by for us here, as well keeping an eye on the remnants of this karl that hit mexico. >> yeah, it's still wringing

itself out across mexico. and igor is one of those systems that is huge as you take a look at it on the satellite imagery. enhanced satellite imagery from the center of igor extending out roughly 350 miles. we've got hurricane to tropical storm-force winds. so the weather's going to be deteriorating across bermuda very dramatically. we just got an intermediate update from the national hurricane center. not a lot has changed. still supporting 110-mile-per-hour winds associated with it. so it's still a category two. but, we are expecting it to make its way more towards the north/northwest. and now they're saying perhaps as a category two across bermuda late on sunday evening and going into monday. roughly every 2 1/2 years a hurricane will either brush by or directly impact bermuda. so we're looking at a system here that is quite strong compared to in 2003, september

5th, fabian, which had 120-mile-an-hour winds associated with it when it blew across bermuda. and there were several fatalities associated with that. as we go ahead and show you what's happening in our forecast, we're looking at hot temperatures across the southern u.s., but quite cool, feels like a little touch of autumn, t.j., across the northern tier. back to you. >> well, not a touch of autumn in hot lanta just yet. we appreciate you, karen, and reynolds wolf, as well. 15 minutes past the hour, cnn saturday morning. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn.

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it seems like there's always some big battle on capitol hill right now the big battle is over tax cuts. lawmakers plan to extend the cuts from the george w. bush era, but at odds whether to continue those for the wealthiest americans. josh levs breaking this argument down for us. >> it is one of the biggest political battles facing the president right now. and this is an example of a time that the battle in washington actually does affect your wallet. the president wants to keep the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of income and then drop the bush era tax cuts on income above that. let's start off with our friendly neighborhood avatar couple. they would like to visit from time to time. here's what we got. if their income right now is right in the middle at $57,000, a little above that and their taxes right now are just over $3,400, their tax cuts if the

current tax cut expired, they'd be paying a couple thousand more, about $2,000 more in taxes. that's a big chunk of change. no one's calling for that to happen, though. this couple is in the income range of which everyone's saying keep the taxes the same. let's jump their income way over that $250,000 mark to $396,000. when we plugged in these numbers, we saw their taxes at about $102,000 right now, if their tax cuts were to expire, if the president's plan were to be enacted they would pay about $6,000 more in taxes every year. and the tax policy center is factoring in a permanent patch to the amt, which the president wants. what is a big buzz word we keep hearing throughout this debate? millionaires, right? that millionaires shouldn't get away with holding on to so much money. so let's take our avatar couple, make them millionaires, why not. $1.75 million, giving them an

income over $1 million. if president obama's plan were enacted, then they would be paying a lot more, about $645,000. that's another $70,000 in taxes. and this is where you get into that debate for america. which is better? to collect it for the government, maybe actually do something about the debt and the deficit or at least pay for programs that are currently being put into place in? that tension is where this comes into play. if you want to know how all of this would play out for you, go over to that tax calculator. i linked it. plug in your information and see how it might play out for you. i'm josh levs, cnn, atlanta. i want to take a look now at stories making headlines, including this heart breaking news we're getting this morning out of southeast texas. a high school quarterback died

after collapsing during a game. died after throwing his second touchdown pass of the game. his name is reginald garrett. he was a star player, he was a straight-a student, but he was unresponsive when they took him to the hospital. the entire school just about turned out to that hospital. we talked to a nurse live here a short time ago talking about how the entire community right now is hurting. we don't know what caused this. an autopsy has been planned. also, toyota, settling a deadly accident, a case where a family was killed when their accelerator got stuck. four people died in this crash in san diego last year, but now it has been settled by toyota. the amount is remaining confidential. for now, what happened with this family with that stuck accelerated led to many of the toyota and lexus recalls. also, actress lindsay lohan already under supervised probation for a 2007 drunken driving conviction. well, she now says she failed a recent drug test.

she tells us this in a post on her twitter page. she says she's working hard to overcome her addiction. she also says she's ready to appear before a judge if asked. she had been warned that a failed drug test could mean more jail time. that's 21 minutes past the hour. ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

well, 24 minutes past the hour now. soon you're going to be able to

log on to the internet. internet explorer and you'll see major changes. microsoft promises this new browser is going to be faster and cleaner. mario armstrong, our tech guru, is that really the case? he's joining me live from washington. first of all, what does this even mean to my life that they are improving a browser? >> yeah. so the web browser is the software we use every day. so many people don't even realize that's what it is. that's what exists. and there are many different ones to choose from that are out there. safari on the macintosh. they revamped it so that we as web visitors on websites have a clone cleaner, richer, faster experience. you're going to see a clean look, less tool bars and more focus on the website you're on. >> do we have any idea what it looks like just yet. they're telling us it's cleaner, but right now we take their word

for it? >> no, it is cleaner. i've seen it. there are images, it is cleaner. it does give you that sense of the focus is about the website. it's not about the web browser. and so that's a really, really big deal for microsoft because they've had to really make sure that they could shift and not lose this ground. it's very important for these companies to be able to supply website -- web tools, web software that enable us to visit websites in the way we want to. >> and cleaning it up, are we going to be losing any features unnecessarily? and people worried about things crashing. is this going to be faster? is it going to keep things from happening? >> that's a great point. there is one major thing to be aware of. if you are running windows xp, if you use that older windows operating system software, you will not be able to use internet explorer 9. that is a major shift. i think they want to kill off windows xp. but you will see less crashes, better performance out of this new browser. >> so you're killing me.

we got to keep upgrading and getting something new. we go from 7 to 8 to xp. what is it now? which one are we using? >> nine. >> that's right. let's move on to twitter now. they are updating, as well. and for the twitter folks, they love this. >> yeah. they absolutely do. and i've been watching, looking at my phone right now i've been watching your tweets this morning. in fact, you said this morning that you were going to try to be a better tweeter. >> it's not really working. >> no, you're doing a great job. you're communicating with the people. here are the things that are changing with the site. number one, multimedia is going to be huge. you'll be able to integrate photos and videos much easier than you have in the past. and you'll be able to organize conversations. i don't know if you've sent out a message and then tried to reply to a message. it gets lost in the shuffle. much more organization and better clean look to twitter. >> when is that going to be launched? it's not ready yet. >> they are rolling it out now to individual users over time.

you will see these changes at twitter.com. >> so i can be a bad tweeter with video and photos then? >> well, you had your floor director take a quick picture of you on the set. so there's good stuff you got on there. he's at t.j. holmes cnn. >> you're keeping me straight here. i appreciate you, mario. we have to leave it there, buddy. we'll talk to you again soon. and you can join us every saturday right around this time as we bring in our tech guru mario armstrong giving us the latest on technology. 27 minutes past the hour.

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welcome back to the cnn center saturday morning. i'm t.j. holmes. glad you're here with us. take a look at stories making headlines first. they're putting a cap on the largest oil spill in u.s. history. actually killing this thing once and for all. bp expects to have that gulf of mexico oil well completely sealed by today, dead. the well began gushing oil back in april after an explosion. bp finally stopped oil from coming out around july 15th. but not before millions and millions of barrels spilled. also, hurricane igor on track to hit bermuda tomorrow night or possibly on monday. igor has winds of about 110 miles an hour, expected to dump 5 to 8 inches of rain on

bermuda. also, take a look at this. this is a drill head that's already bored a hole to reach those 33 miners trapped underground in chile. the hole is only 12 inches wide, so it needs to be widened. officials say it could still be around christmas before the miners are rescued, but there's hope they'll be out before that. i want to turn now to the elections happening in afghanistan. polling stations officially closed now. few people still in line. and they are being allowed to vote. talking about 2,500 candidates on the ballot. voters have been risking injury or worse showing up at the polls, however. cnn's atia abawi joining us now. hello to you once again, atia. the fear was about the violence. has the taliban come through on their promise to make sure they made this day hell for people trying to vote? >> reporter: well, they've come

through on some of their threats, t.j. they have had various attacks throughout the country. in fact, even a district in the province in herat in afghanistan, and one of those districts there was a battle between the taliban and the coalition forces. but this is nowhere near the violence we saw in last year's election in the 2009 presidential elections. in fact, people at least in this province and in this city have been going out to vote in smaller numbers than before, but not necessarily because of the threats and the intimidation, but more so because they feel their vote may not count because of fraud and corruption. in fact, as you mentioned, polls are closed right now. but behind me, the ballots are just beginning to be counted. we just don't know when that will end. in fact, we don't expect a new parliament seated until possibly december. i'm sorry, prayer time is starting. those are the sounds you're hearing at the moment. >> well, i had a couple of more questions for you possibly here. you can't hear me that way right now possibly, atia.

we'll come back to you. i know we're going to be talking to you again. we'll get into those questions in a bit. thank you. she's keeping an eye on parliamentary elections there in afghanistan. i want to turn back to politics now here in the u.s. day two of the conservative political value known as the values voters summit in washington. a look at who's on tap for today. bill bennett going to be taking the stage at 9:25 eastern time, then former speaker of the house newt gingrich addressing the crowd after that, and bob mcdonnell going to be speaking at 10:15 this morning. want to check the political ticker for the best political coverage from the best political team on television. more details on that values voter summit. plus a look at the president's midterm elections, campaign schedule from our deputy political director paulsteinhauser. >> where do you find it? c cnnpolitics.com. right here in the nation's

capital, and you know what? a lot of it is about 2010 and these midterms coming up, but also a lot about 2012. we have a bunch of possible, possible people who may want to run for the republican nomination the next time around. they talked yesterday. newt gingrich another one talking this morning and later today, let's keep an eye on the conference because they're going to have the results of a presidential straw poll coming out. let's also talk about what's going on in this year's elections. we've got those midterms. on monday the president will be pretty busy. president will be headlining a dnc fundraiser monday night in philadelphia. and also helping raise money for joe cestak. that's a seat the democrats would like to keep in party hands. t.j., just some of the stuff we've got on the cnn political ticker at cnnpolitics.com. >> thank you so much, paul steinhauser. and for the latest political news, cnnpolitics.com.

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taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines. in his first official state visit to great britain, pope benedict xvi sharing his sorrow for the child sex abuse scandal. he did that this morning during mass held in westminster cathedral. also sarah shourd, the american hiker freed from iran after more than a year. a news conference set for tomorrow in new york. the 32-year-old was hiking with two friends in northern iraq when they crossed into iran. her two companions including her fiance and another friend remain in iran. also happening in west texas, law men are in a standoff. police think he shot two deputies and a civilian yesterday. both officers were wounded are expected to survive. we'll keep you posted there. 38 past the hour.

♪ baseball and some peanuts, but they're not having peanuts if you sit in sections 303 or 304 when they take on kansas city september 26th. they're going to have a no peanuts for sale there. peanut allergies, of course, serious business. particularly for children. according to the federal food allergy initiative, the number of children with peanut

allergies doubled between 1997 and 2002. so you don't want to be around peanuts, don't want to smell them, see them, 303, 304, those are the sections for you. 18 touchdowns, a national championship, and the heisman 2005 was a banner year for reggie bush. but his days of glory at usc have come to haunt him. a look now at how the college career began to fall apart. >> reggie bush. >> reporter: five years after winning the most prestigious college football award, running back reggie bush says he's giving back the heisman trophy, a first in the award's 75-year history. bush won it in 2005 when he played for usc. that year, he rushed for over 1,700 yards -- >> touchdown! >> reporter: and scored 18 touchdowns. but this june after a long investigation, the ncaa found

that bush had illegally accepted money and gifts from agents while he was a trojan, a violation of ncaa rules making him ineligible to have played. bush came out this week and said he's forfeiting the heisman title. >> it's not an admission of guilt. for me it's -- like i said, it's me showing my respect to the heisman trophy itself and to, like i said the people who have come before me and the people who will come after me. >> reporter: in a statement earlier this week heisman trust said it was a difficult decision to return the heisman trophy and he exhibited great character in acknowledging his mistakes and accepting the consequences adding that no one will hold the title for that year. cnn, atlanta. >> let's pick up on that point right there. rick, let me bring you into this. yes, he sent it back. that seems like -- you wouldn't send it back if you didn't do anything wrong. he came out a day or so later and said this is not an

admission of guilt. what are we to make of him sending back the heisman now, rick? >> avoiding controversy, t.j., to move on, to focus on his career as a new orleans saint, which he's been for a while. 75 years, no heisman governance board has ever asked for the trophy back. and i guess his argument is i might have done some of this, i'm not going to talk about it, but let's clear it up and move on. that's what he would argue is why he did this. >> is this done now, if you will? not just the heisman part, but he's been investigated or usc has been investigated, ncaa came down hard on his former university. some people are saying he doesn't really get much punishment. >> well, every time an athlete causes an issue with a school and the athlete's back in the pros, the punishment doesn't fit the crime because he's no longer part of that university. he just has the connection because of the heisman quite clearly. he's got his career with the saints to worry about. he wants to crack that 100

endorsement wise. this, of course, doesn't help. >> how much is this going to stain him, though? as soon as he gets a football back in his hands, makes spectacular move, gets to the playoffs, you know how this thing goes. people are going to be quick to forget this? >> well, that's exactly the point. remember, when you think of reggie bush in the last few year, he's a running back on the world champion new orleans saints first. now the quibble is going to be, does vince young get the heisman trophy that reggie bush gave back? that's in the past, reggie bush now moves on to his nfl career and hopefully for him puts a lot of this stuff behind him. >> let's move forward here. can you believe, rick, here we are four years later. the last time we saw michael vick start a football game was some four years ago. and we are going to see it again, it appears this sunday. my goodness, man. we've come full circle on this story. >> yeah, my friend. he had a great second half last week. cynics would say, yeah, they

played the prevent, they had to come from way behind. he almost did it. and everybody in philadelphia is waiting with bated breath. we'll see how michael vick plays. everybody with the atlanta falcons, remember, how nimble he was on his feet and every dog lover remembers the last few years, as well. we saw protests when he was signed by the eagles originally. it seems like that died down because he wasn't starting, not getting a lot of playing time. do we expect that stuff to come up again a new energy to some of the protests of him if he starts to do well and starts to be a prominent player again? >> yeah, some of the protests, but not nearly as much as it used to be. and that gives way to whether he can lead the philadelphia eagles to a victory or some victories. he's minded his ps and qs, stayed out of trouble. a nightclub incident, nothing to do with him we found out.

and the bottom line is he's ready to play some football again. >> all right. good to have you on this morning. good to talk to you. a couple of heavy and serious topics. we don't have as much fun in this segment as we normally do. but i appreciate you as always. rick, you enjoy the rest of your weekend. >> we'll make up for it next week, i guarantee. >> of course we will. coming up, there might be some more bad news for the gulf of mexico? one scientist says he's discovered or she has discovered oil on the sea floor miles away from the deepwater horizon site. taking a closer look at what that could mean. plus at the top of the hour, the new census numbers out this week show more americans than ever are living in poverty. shocking numbers we're breaking down for you at the top of the hour. also going to be talking to an author about what you can do about it. and the first thing you need to do, he says, is get mad. i want to give my 5 employees health insurance,

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about ten minutes till the top of the hour now. the town of west orange, texas. in a state of shock this morning after the star quarterback of the local high school football team collapsed and died during last night's game. his name is reginald garrett, he collapsed shortly after throwing his second touchdown pass. he was rushed to an area hospital. everybody gathered there. a short time ago, i spoke with the hospital supervisor susan courtney who was there when he was brought in. this wasn't just another patient to her. she knew this young man personally like so many other people in town did. >> the paramedics did everything possible in the field. we did -- we worked with him for well over an hour.

and we did everything possible, including our physician getting on the line to a local cardiologist to see if there was anything else we could do, but we simply couldn't get a heartbeat back. >> what was that hospital like? and was it full of people at the time when -- >> his family was all there, of course, and it was very devastating and lots of crying. but then shortly after the game ended, the -- my parking lot completely filled with people. the waiting room was full, the parking lot was full. there was cheerleaders, there was band members, all the coaches were there. it was just the entire community. like the entire football stadium came to the hospital to check on him. we were trying our best to give them good news and comfort them, but it was -- it was impossible. >> and courtney went on to add that garrett was a senior, a straight-a student and was being

courted by a number of colleges. and this morning, as well, we shared the story and had that interview on. certainly an emotional interview earlier. a lot of people were responding about it. but one of the responses i received was from a lady named trina moore. she appreciated we did the story. but going to her twitter page and watching her time line shows that she was at that game last night when the young man collapsed. i want to share it with you here now. from trina moore who was at the game. and 12 hours ago her first tweet said that she was at the game, getting ready. the one at the bottom there. but at the game, getting ready to watch those mustangs play. a short time later she gave an update on the score saying west orange up 14-0. the next message said west orange up 21-0, but a player just passed out on the sideline, pray he's okay. and then her last tweet from last night saying horrible news, our starting high school quarterback collapsed on the sideline and died.

rest in peace, reggie garrett. a young man that everyone in town knew, understand he was going to be going to college to play football. but again, nobody knows why this happened just yet. according to the nurse we talked to over the phone, she had no idea and they had no idea about any medical history that would've affected him. but a strong young man, healthy football player by all accounts collapsed and died last night. well, we'll turn now back to the gulf. back to the gulf of mexico where bp says it should have its broken oil well permanently sealed later today. that will end one phase of nearly five-month-long public relations debacle and environmental disaster. but people are still wondering where exactly did all of that oil go? here now, cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: a deep water csi in the gulf and a potentially ominous finding. researchers discover what they say is a substantial layer of oil in the sediment in areas near the deepwater horizon spill. the team led by a university of

georgia marine science professor canvassed an area as close as two miles from the well head and as far away as about 80 miles. in several samples from the sea floor, they found concentrations of oil seeping as much as 2 inches into the sediment. >> we're going to go to the source of this new finding. we're going to speak to dr. samantha joy about 10 miles south, she's on the research vessel, we're going to call that right now. >> reporter: i ask joy about other scientists who question her findings, including those who say so much oil seeps into the gulf naturally every year that some of this might not even be from the deepwater horizon spill. >> there's spillage from other vessels, there's leakage from pipelines, there's all sorts of things like that. so to find oil in the gulf of mexico either in its sediments or in the water column is not an unusual thing. >> reporter: how do you come to believe that the oil you found is from the gulf oil spill in the bp situation? >> we have samples that were

collected in may, early in may on the crews. from many of the same sites we're sampling right now. in may, this layer was not present. it was not near. this layer has developed over the past four months. >> reporter: joy concedes they won't know for sure that this water is from the deepwater horizon spill until they chemically fingerprint it when they get back to their labs. joy discovered dead organisms underneath the oily sediment and worries about marine life. >> what kinds of organisms are exposed to this oil? >> reporter: well, anything that is at the bottom. any fish, any squid, octopus, anything that is going to the bottom for food is going to be exposed to the material. >> reporter: then joy says that could deprive other fish up the chain from a healthy food source. an official tells cnn this finding does not necessarily

contradict a study last month saying about 75% of the oil from the spill was either captured, evaporated naturally, or dispersed in droplets. the official says the oil in these samples could be part of the 25% that got away. brian todd, cnn, washington. well, as the numbers showed this week, more and more americans are living in poverty. some of the numbers considered shocking. we're going to share those with you at the top of the hour. plus we're taking a closer look at what can be done to get americans out of poverty. just a few minutes from the top of the hour.

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okay. we know you can improve your health by eating right, but it can cost you a fortune to buy some of the right foods, the good feeds, but it doesn't necessarily have to. in our fit nation report, dr. sanjay gupta gets sop tme tips m a world famous chef on eating healthy and saving money. >> reporter: with the economy in a slump, families are struggling to make ends meet. but you don't have to sacrifice good nutrition. where better to look for healthy

tips on the cheap than a five-star chef? >> it's easy to find a way to eat for a budget, which is not too expensive, good food. >> reporter: world renowned chef eric ripert says it's all about going what's best for you. >> chicken is very inexpensive. instead of buying the chicken already cut or cooked, you buy it whole. and therefore you save a lot of money. if you want something healthy and something inexpensive, you have to think seasonal. if you want to eat tomatoes in january, it's very expensive. if in january you eat root vegetables, make soup with squash, it's going to be very inexpensive. >> reporter: how does this french chef stay healthy himself surrounded by topnotch cuisine all day long? >> before i leave the house, i have a little bit of dark chocolate of good quality. i love my house around 10:00,

and i walk through the streets of new york, takes about 40 to 45 minutes. i think it keeps me in a certain good health and in shape. >> reporter: the bottom line says ripert -- >> i'm a strong believer that you can do a lot of things in terms of eating, which is you can eat better. you can eat chocolate, you can have a little dessert here and there, but again, it has to be in the quantity that is controlled. and you have to compensate with some exercise. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. good morning, top of the hour here now. almost 44 million americans are living in poverty right now. that's 1 out of every 7 of us. and you need to be mad about it. hello to you all. i'm t.j. holmes. this time every cnn saturday

morning we spend this 9:00 eastern hour on one hot topic in the news. and today the new census numbers that came out this week that show more americans than ever are living in poverty. ginning me this half hour is going to be a pastor and author who wants all of us to be ticked off about poverty. also, we'll take you beyond the numbers. introduce you to families that don't need a government report to tell them that they're struggling. let's start with those numbers if you missed them. these came out just a couple of days ago showing the poverty rate in this country. this graph shows you really the past 20 years in the country. goes back 1991 to 2009 where we are now. we saw in 2000 there, we had the lowest measurable rate there. the lowest one we captured is 11.3% was our poverty rate. you see where we have gone over the years, we steadily ticked up to 2009 where we're at 14.3%, that's the highest we have seen. the highest that's been recorded. now, a lot of people ask the question, as well. we talk about poverty, living in poverty. what does that mean to be poor?

what does that mean to be living in poverty these days? well, let me show it to you. the census bureau defines it as this, if it's a four-person household $21,954 or less, you're below that poverty line. next, a two-person household making $13,900 or less, and also for one-person household if you are making $10,956 or less. those are all defined as poverty. let's start, though, with a major group suffering quietly in this recession. children and adults. i spoke with a professor at the director of institute of research and poverty. when the census went public on thursday, i talked to him. here was his perspective about the numbers. >> they've lost jobs and they can't find work. the younger people who have less education are less able to get into the labor market. older, experienced workers are

coming back if anybody is coming back. they're less likely to get unemployment compensation because they haven't had a permanent job in a long time. and despite the fact that many of them avoided poverty by moving back in with their parents or their sister or brother. so it's essentially what we're seeing is a lot of young people starting out their lives in their 20s having children and not being able to support those children or to support themselves because of the lack of job. >> he says the situation would've been worse this year if it hadn't been a drop in the poverty rate for the elderly. he does believe it's going to get worse next year. unemployment insurance for millions of americans, possibly going to expire. when that happens, he says the rate could go up to 15% at least the poverty rate. i have given you the numbers. i have given those to you and now you know the numbers. now i want you to know three

working mothers all struggling right now to literally put food on the table. listen to how they describe poverty in america. >> there's so much going on and there's no jobs available. no one wants to live the way we have to live. >> poverty is not a look. poverty is a way of life. and, yes, i am living it. when i go paycheck to paycheck and figuring how to spend that last penny, that's poverty. >> i have faith that i am going to make it just by praying. i really try not to focus on what i don't have and try to make the best of what i do have. >> i live on approximately $5,000 a year, which would come down to maybe $100 every two weeks for me and my 11-year-old son brian. and you cannot live any poorer than we do. my son said that he wasn't

deprived of anything as a child. and that's because i gave everything i can to my children. if i had to go without, it's okay as long as my children had. >> there's so much more i want for my kids. so much further in life. i want them to be better than me. so i have to show an example. and right now, i feel like i'm not showing the example because it's a lot that i can't do for them. it's a struggle. just trying to see if my checks are going to last long enough for me to provide for my kids, get diapers, pay bills, you know, just pay rent. i'm really just playing it day by day, trying to see if i'm going to be able to survive, trying to see if my kids will still be here with me. make sure they're not going to be taken from me. because i was in the system. they look at you differently

being in the system. so they feel like, well, since whatever your parents did to you, whatever happened to you in the system, you're going to do the same to your kids. and not being able to provide. not knowing if you're going to have a home the next day, not knowing how much your check is going to be. are you going to be able to pay your rent? to have somewhere to stay? to just have food. having just the normal things in life. >> i would like everyone to understand that it's not just hitting the very poor, poor. it hits everybody. even someone like me that's working and trying hard to take care of their family. and i'm not talking about not just any family, my kids are great kids. but it hits us hard, harder. i want them to see a face on how this economy is affecting us. when we lost the house and could no longer stay here, my family found ourselves in a shelter for

single mothers. that was -- i think that was the hardest thing that has ever happened to me, even going through what i went through with my daughter with a bone marrow transplant. living in a shelter is a humbling experience. having to get food from a food bank is humbling, but to have to live in a shelter with your children, you don't ever want to be like that. so, we stayed there for a month and about a month and a half and my landlord came to us and said some money is better than no money. so with the grace of god we were able to come back into the same house we were in. what makes me happy is when erin wakes up in the morning with a smile on her face. my daughter in college running track and field, my son playing

football. maya in the play. she my kids make me happy, my faith makes me happy. >> never judge a book by its cover. never make assumptions. come outside. meet the people in your community where you live. meet the people in the communities where you work and where you represent. >> see the face of poverty. >> see the face of poverty. >> i have no idea how i manage every day. but we managed to pull it together. i try to do it with -- with god's help. and a lot of hope that i'm going to make it through. and every day i turn around and looked at we made it through another day. >> there's so much more that i feel i can do for my kids, but i can't do it without money. these days money goes a long way. i know money can't buy you happiness, but it can get you out of a lot of trouble.

>> so -- and we want to thank tanisha, joyce, and anne for sharing those stories with us. it's not about a poverty line and number there. a lot of families are struggling. where are they struggling necessarily in the country? let's start with the richest and poorest states here. the richest states in the country in the northeast with the census bureau statistics showing mississippi, arkansas, west virginia have the lowest median incomes. the top five rounded out by tennessee and south carolina. families there making in the first three less than $40,000 a year. new hampshire, new jersey, they're around $65,000 a year. and rounding out the top five of the richest, if you will, that's -- i should say the highest median incomes connecticut, maryland, and alaska. so you see where people are making more money than others. so you know the numbers now. you know the poorest states.

you've heard stories from those three women. what are you going to do about it? coming up next, one man who says people ought to be ticked off about poverty in this country. my discussion with famed author and pastor after a quick break. it's 10 past the hour. my name is rachel robinson.

i am a banker with quicken loans. this is kathy, who i helped do her first home loan, and this is her sister tina, who i also helped do her first home loan. it was unbelievable how well it all fell together. we wanted to stay in our same neighborhood. kathy said, "well, let me give you rachel's number." rachel just made it effortless.

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13 minutes past the hour now. poverty and hunger. social issues so huge, so daunting to imagine overcoming them. but there's got to be a way to reduce the gap between those who have and those who don't. one pastor from texas asking us to get upset about poverty and do something about it. a new book out called "out live your life," you were made to make a difference. he joins us now. you want people to be upset. why do we need to be upset about this? >> yeah, a little righteous indignation would do us all some

good. i think it's core, the problem of poverty is not a lack of charity, it's really a problem of the lack of justice. your previous segment put a face on the problem of poverty. these are real people. and these are people who are willing to work who are willing to do their share. they're not lazy. they're not working off the system. they're doing their best to do their best. and i think our response is to roll up our sleeves and do what we can to give them a fair shake. >> what is it then, pastor lucado? we don't seem to be spurring toward action? we're not taking that action you're talking about. and what makes the difference -- what would happen if we did get mad about it? >> well, i think we're a little intimidated by the problem. we hear these statistics, not just the ones you shared, t.j., which are powerful. and the news we just heard. but the international statistics of 975 million people today are

hungry and 1.75 billion people today are living on less than $2 a day. and 27,000 people will die today of preventable diseases. these are daunting statistics. and i think -- i think they impact many of us and we say i can't do -- i can't fix this. and so i won't do anything. well, that's just -- that's just the exact wrong response. we can't do everything, but all of us can do something. we can find something that we can do in our own communities and i believe around the world. and if we could all do just a little more, well, i'd love to see the response. i really believe that the solution to this is some voluntary generosity. >> how do we do it? people wondering what they can do. we hear these huge numbers. you, me, we're a couple of individual guys. everybody feels like that. i'm just one person with this massive issue. so what do you recommend people do? >> let's take the initiative in our own lives first. look around in your own neighborhood.

you'll be surprised how many people you know in your own neighborhood, in your dormitory, in your apartment complex who are in between jobs who just got laid off. you just be sensitive to those people. there are some single moms, there are some elderly people just down the street from you. you can cut their grass, anonymously give them a sack of groceries. you can do something like that. you can help some people right there in your own community. each of the cities in the united states has some type of inner city mission. some better than others. but each one of our cities has some sophisticated inner city missions. we can volunteer, we can help, we can give your time and money. and across the country -- across the world, i'm a big proponent of child sponsorship. i'm trying to help world vision find sponsors for 25,000 kids. i think that's the easiest access we have to help the hurting poor around the world. >> sir, it sounds like and you certainly believe we need to take this -- almost we expect government to help us in so many

ways. should we in some ways just forget about government and not expect them to help solve this problem? government and governments around the world really and this needs to be a movement of people of individuals of neighbors to solve this problem not lawmakers, not world leaders? >> i agree. as long as we depend on the government, it's going to be a faceless bureaucratic solution. if we can adopt it ourselves, then i think we have an opportunity to make a difference. as a pastor, i think about the first sermon of jesus and the last sermon of jesus. calls to care for the poor. here's an opportunity for us to roll up our sleeves and really live like he would live. to be the hands and feet of god in a hurting world. what an opportunity this is. the statistics are overwhelming, but the opportunity is even greater. >> well, pastor lucado, we appreciate you being here. the new book is out. and i want to remind people, the book, all the proceeds are going

"out live your life," all the proceeds are going to nonprofit groups. we appreciate you taking the time out with us, we appreciate the message, as well. hopefully some people are listening. it's a good one that a lot of people need to hear. we appreciate you. you have a good rest of the weekend. >> thank you very much. you too. we have been telling you out there how many more americans are in poverty. now let's turn in the other direction here to talk about america's wealthiest. the president says no tax cut extension for the richest americans. republicans say that's not fair. but also it's not good for the economy. give you a little background on this. a decade ago, then president george bush championed a sweeping set of tax cuts. those tax cuts saved millions of dollars for taxpayers. rich americans who pay the most taxes got the biggest savings. but over the long-term, all americans will get the bill for the cuts. $1.7 trillion in revenue to the government that they did not collect. now, unless the president and

congress can agree on a long-term plan, the cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. and we'll all see our taxes go up. many economists say that would be a huge blow to our still struggling economy. adding to the pressure here, campaign season. not a good time to be talking about higher taxes. and also, not a good time to get republicans and democrats to agree on anything in washington. well, the republican party's weekly address to americans this morning touches on the tax breaks for the wealthier americans while house speaker nancy pelosi is against continuing the tax cuts for the allowing the >> republicans want to stop all of the tax hikes that are set to take effect on january 1st. now for his part, president obama proposes raising taxes on half of small business income in america. the economists and frankly a growing chorus of democrats in congress agree with us that raising taxes on anyone in a struggling economy, especially

small businesses is the exact wrong thing to do. >> i don't know if anybody here wants their children or grandchildren deeper in debt with our fiscal deficit so that we can give a tax cut to the high end. i don't even know why this is such a big discussion. the middle class should have a tax cut. 97% of the people, let me enlarge that, 100% of the people get a tax cut. 97% of them make $250,000 and below. >> now, again, yesterday, president obama talked about the need to continue tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year. the income of middle class families declined by almost 5% between 2001 and 2009. we're going to take a turn here and talk about the weather. we need to talk about weather because we've got some tropical troubles on this saturday

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25 minutes past the hour now. we are tracking this storm. hurricane igor in the atlantic. also keeping a close eye on tropical depression karl. on track for heavy winds, strong rains for bermuda sometime sunday night. and that's where our reynolds wolf is right now. they're used to storms, used to getting them. is this almost routine for them

now? >> reporter: well, you know, i've got to tell you, t.j., i don't think storms like this will ever be routine. you can kind of wrap your mind around and know it's coming, but you're never quite 100% prepared. they're as prepared as they can be. we're also prepared. we're on the very southern end of the big island. a place that was hammered by a storm back in 2003. to be more exact, we're talking about hurricane fabian. but from our vantage point, i'm going to move very slowly because we are on a big system here. you'll notice a little bit of a green area behind me. it appears to be a stone wall. that's a lip. we're up on a little bit of plateau and then it drops down towards the beach. we were down at the beach moments ago. here's what we saw. here's another look at the deteriorating conditions here in bermuda. you can see the waves are coming in. i was speaking to the photo journalist steve, and we're trying to give you a better perspective. some of these are mammoth in

size. some of these 5 to 7 feet, and as the winds continue to pick up, these are going to get bigger. high tide comes in early this evening. then again around dawn tomorrow. so that coupled with a storm surge of 5 to 7 feet can be very interesting. you see some of the waves pounding up against these rocks here in the distance. it's amazing to see the power of these things. and some of the waves have been coming up against the structure against this part of the building. if you look at the building itself, many of the windows have the hurricane shutters up getting ready for what is at this time the strongest storm in the planet. it remains the strongest storm on the planet right now. it is a category two as we speak. but there is the possibility that there could be rapid intensification before it makes landfall some time sunday night into monday morning. it will be affecting us long before then and after. that's the latest on this storm. we'll be talking more about that and so many other subjects coming up. you're watching cnn saturday morning.

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